A Chance to Improve
by Al-Saiduq
Summary: Momoi's cooking has exceeded the boundaries of edible and into poisonous. When she asks for the help of a friend, who knew she'd learn more than just how to cook. Takes place about a month after 'A Change of Heart' Kagami/Momoi


_A/N: I _really really _like this pairing, okay? My friend gave me this idea and I've came up with plenty of cute, fluffy ideas for it._

_This takes place a little more than a month after _'_A Change of Heart_' _and Momoi and Kagami have passed the stage of texting buddies and became good friends. This is slowly going further into their relationship and, even if it's obvious that there are romantic implications, they're not __**immediately **__in love. The kind of relationship between these two require time. I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea that I'm just going into the whole 'after meeting, their hearts began to race and they knew it was love from the minute they' blah blah blah. NO. In my previous fic with these two, there's a reason why the summary was like that. That short time they spent together did NOT make them fall in love. But it was a start, and isn't that how all romances begin? A beginning._

_Warning: A bit OOC, but I tried keeping them in character._

_Kuroko no Basket © Fujimaki_

* * *

Momoi brought out the container of rice balls from her bag and presented it to the Touou team. In order to avoid being rude, Imayoshi, Sakurai, and Wakamatsu cautiously took a bite out of the seemingly normal looking rice ball. It was no secret that their motherly manager was an awful cook. In fact, soaking sliced lemons in honey even proved to be too difficult for her.

Momoi watched them with anticipation. "So...how is it?" The various responses included:

"Is this actually a plum at the center or am I being delusional?" Imayoshi asked, feeling sick to his stomach already.

"Give this to Aomine. It'd be a great weapon and I wanna watch the guy keel over already." Wakamatsu wiped at his mouth and just held the unfinished rice ball in his hand.

"..." Sakurai was silent. Wakamatsu, feeling a bit worried for his teammate, waved his hand in Sakurai's face. "...I'm sorry. I can't go on. I'm... sor-" Before he could finish his apology, Sakurai fell over. His soul left his body. Poor thing.

Momoi's eyes began to tear up. She worked so hard on these and it still turned out no good! She knew her team was trying (in Sakurai's case, tried) to hold it down for her sake, but their attempts proved futile.

"Hey, I'm here." Aomine lazily strolled in and noticed his childhood friend beginning to cry. "Oi! What happened here?" He directed an angry glare at his team, only to be met with looks of anguish and poorly concealed pain. Confused, he looked back at Momoi to see a container. Of food. That she probably made. "Ooohhh. Didn't I tell you guys that Satsuki can't cook worth shit?" Aomine carelessly told them. That was the final straw.

"Dai-chan, you idiot! Don't talk to me!" She threw her food at him and ran out the gym in tears.

"Smooth, Aomine." Imayoshi patted Aomine on the back as he trembled his way towards the restrooms. "I'm going to take a break for a minute."

"Oi, Is Ryo gonna be alright?" Aomine nudged at the timid shooting guard with the tip of his foot gently. "...Guess not."

* * *

**Ass-mine is such an insensitive jerk!**

She sent the message to the only person she could talk to in this time of need when Aomine proved to be, yet again, useless.

It took a couple of minutes for him to reply, he was probably at practice as well.

**Well, yeah. He naturally is one.**

Kagami Taiga, freshmen of Seirin high school and now texting buddies with Momoi Satsuki. Momoi took a breath and entered the train for home, took a seat, and began her rant.

**He completely trashed my cooking! I mean, sure it's not the best out there, but it has potential! **

A reply arrived almost immediately.

**Shouldn't be too bad, right? I mean, what did you make and how?**

Momoi thought about it for a minute, and as she was about to press 'reply', another message followed after the one before.

**Also, Kuroko says hello.**

Momoi smiled sadly. She noticed this just recently, but lately she wasn't as excited as she used to be whenever her first love was mentioned. That text message didn't make Momoi's heart pace as fast as it once did. Although she still admits to loving him, suddenly the feeling isn't as strong as it once was. She was confused why though.

Her reply: **Oh, tell Tetsu-kun I said 'hi'and that I miss him and give him a big ole kiss for me in my place! (wwwww)** Momoi giggled at her joke. She already expected Kagami's reply.

**W-What the hell! There is no way in hell I'm pulling that shit! Just tell me what you did to your cooking! **

The killjoy just had to kill her fun.

**I didn't do much. I just made simple rice balls. I may have added a tad too much water and since we ran out of pickled plum, I settled with whatever we had around the house! **

**... Did you at least garnish it? To make up for the taste? **

**What's that? **

**...**

He didn't reply to her for a while.

* * *

Meanwhile, where Kagami was at, he just stared at her question about garnishing. He wondered how she didn't even know what that was!

"Er... Hey, Kuroko?" Kagami had to ask. He was sitting on the bench, resting from an intense workout with the team and his legs felt like jelly after enduring Riko's special-training-for-late-Bakagami. At present, in the Seirin gym, they were having a joint-practice with Kaijou to strengthen their team play along with the Kaijou members.

"Yes, Kagami-kun?"

"How bad is Momoi's cooking, exactly...?" When there was no reply for a while, Kagami looked over at his shadow to see what was delaying his answer. "Oi, Kurok- KUROKOOOOO!"

Although his expression didn't change, the already pale player became paler and began sweating a trembling.

"Bakagami! What the hell did you do to Kuroko!" Hyuuga shouted when he heard the commotion from the sidelines. When he saw Kuroko's condition, he couldn't help but worry.

Ï just asked him a question about his old manager's cooking!" After Kagami mentioned it again, Kuroko collapsed.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise dropped the ball from his hand and ran over to Kuroko, ignore Ganta's shout of 'Kise, you idiot!'. Once he arrived to Kuroko's side, he cradled the poor boy's head in his lap. "Kagamicchi! What did you do!" Kise cried out, clearly distressed.

"Apparently he mentioned Momoi's cooking?" Kyoshi contributed to the conversation after hearing the explanation from Hyuuga.

Kise's complexion became equally pale and he suddenly nauseous.

"... Kasamatsu-senpai..." Kise called for his captain weakly. His usual enthusiasm was gone. "K-Kuroko and I are going to the infirmary..." Kise stumbled to get up while supporting Kuroko's fainted form. "We need to rest from our trauma..." And the rest of Kaijou and Seirin watched Kise's slumped form tread out the gym.

_'Is it THAT bad!_'' Kagami wondered. If it managed to put the former Kiseki members in that shape just at the thought of her cooking, Kagami feared how bad it must really be. He grabbed his phone and typed a message to Momoi.

**Your two friends are headed to the infirmary for what looks like PTSD when I just mentioned asked a simple question about how you cook! Care to explain?! **

**What! Those meanies! It's not like it's that bad! Kagamin has to try it for himself before you are allowed to judge me! It's not fair that they would exaggerate that badly! I will bring you a bentou tomorrow and you will see for youself! I'll prove them wrong!**

* * *

Friday arrived and it was already nearing the end of practice and there was still no signs of Momoi showing up. Kagami shrugged, uncaring of whether she forgot to bring the bentou or not. He closed his locker door without having to worry about Kuroko being there to scare him again. He was still sick and unable to go to school due to it, which had Kagami worried and weary.

'_I mean, it shouldn't be too bad ... right?_' As he walked out the door to the front gate of his school, he noticed a familiar shade of pink waiting at the gate. Unsurprised, he walked up to her. In her hands was a simple, blue bentou.

"'sup. Is that for me to try?" She held it out for him and nodded. Kagami took it in his hand and opened the lid to reveal normal looking food; a simple, basic bentou. He didn't understand what everyone was freaking out over. "Well, itadakimasu." Chomp.

And he immediately regretted his decision.

"How is it, Kagamin...?" Momoi asked cautiously. He handed her back the bentou box and chopsticks wordlessly and expressionless. "Kagamin...?" His world immediately went black.

* * *

When he woke up, he in the infirmary bed. Kagami tried to sit up but he felt the world tilt suddenly, along with his stomach, and laid back down.

"I'm sorry, Kagamin..." On the side of his bed, Momoi was sitting a chair, looking down forlornly at her bentou.

"... Did you carry me here on your own?" That just had to be the first thing he asked.

"No. One of the students here came out a little later and helped me take you here. I am really sorry, Kagamin!" Her eyes began to well up with tears.

"Aw jeez, don't cry!" He tried to calm her down before she began bawling. He was never good with crying girls too begin with, too much of a hassle. "Look, you just over-seasoned the chicken and boiled the vegetables for too long. You only need to put about two cups of water in the rice cooker if you made this much and it should be a little more..." _Edible _but he wasn't gonna say that and have her start crying again.

"Kagamin, you can cook?" She wondered out loud when she heard him explain her problems. It was strange that he seemed so knowledgable in this field, especially when she assumed that all he thought about was basketball.

"Well, yeah. I live by myself most of the time so I need to cook for myself. Eating nothing but fast food does get tiring after a while." He explained to her. Suddenly, she looked at him with sparkles in her eyes.

"Kagamin will teach me how to cook! You just have to!" She declared with fighting spirit and determination.

"What! Why do I have to teach you have to cook?" He questioned her sudden decision. It was too much for one day. The only reason he obliged to teaching Riko that day they had to prepare for their training camp was because she was the only one not too tired out to cook.

"You just have to! I don't want Dai-chan to make fun of me again! And I want my team to be proud of me!" Again, she was on the verge of tears.

"Ah, jeez." He scratched the back of his head in thought. "Fine. I don't care about those Touou jerks anyways, but whatever." Momoi jumped out of chair screaming 'banzai!'. "Quiet down! Jeez." Sigh. "I'll have you know, I'm a tough teacher."

As if she was a main character in a Jump series gaining a sense of responsibility, Momoi nodded with determination. "Right!"

* * *

It was a lazy afternoon. Kagami was currently in an apron in Momoi's kitchen At the moment, it was only himself, her, and her grandmother in the house. Initially, when Momoi's grandmom saw Kagami enter the house, she couldn't wish for a better grandson-in-law. The whole time he was there, her grandma made nudges and suggestive winks at Momoi, much to her embarassment. Kagami didn't understand the meaning of all of it and continued his way into the kitchen.

"You caught yourself a _very_ fine fellow! I was hoping for Aomine-kun but this one seems much better! Don't disappoint me, Satsuki!" Grandma said in a completely different dialect that Kagami didn't understand. Momoi didn't know that and hushed her grandmother.

"It's not like that, granny!" She pouted when her grandmother continued with her gestures, and walked into the kitchen with her bag of grocceries.

"What did your grandma say? All I understood from all that was Aomine's name." Kagami asked. Momoi then remembered from her database that Kagami was a returnee from America so he wasn't familiar nor extremely fluent in Japanese.

"Hee hee, she just wanted to know when Dai-chan would be back to visit her. She always took care of us as kids." Momoi lied to avoid any awkward situations. She really hoped that Kagami would believe her bad pretense.

Being the idiot he is, he bought it. "Oh, I didn't think Aomine was that popular with your family. Oh well," He shrugged it off, already feeling a headache coming on from even thinking of Aomine. "Let's start."

* * *

(_Due to author-san being bad at explaining the process of cooking, author-san will be skipping a head a little bit. OTL; Author-san can only cook it, not explain it!_)

* * *

Grandma, at present, was asleep on the couch from watching television. Kagami and Momoi were currently making a mess in the kitchen, but were doing better in improving Momoi's cooking skills. Only a little.

"Kagamin, I stir the mix for a few more minutes right?" Starting off with a simple dish, they decided to make curry. It was in the cooking process and now they were just waiting and monitoring the stove. At the same time, they were working on making simple custard pudding. Momoi was mixing the custard mix too quickly and spilled some on herself.

"You are such a klutz." Kagami muttered in English. Although Momoi didn't understand the meaning of 'klutz' and only picked up everything else from her basic knowledge of the English langauge, she still knew he probably insulted her. She puffed her cheeks and furrowed her eyebrows, causing Kagami to laugh boiterously.

"Alright alright. Here," He picked up a nearby, clean cloth. "Look up at me." He requested bluntly. When she complied, he held her face with one hand and wiped at her face with the other. Momoi's face heated up at the gesture, but Kagami, being oblivious, didn't think too much about it. When he finished wiping her face down, he examined her face for anymore spills. Being the idiot that he is, he **still** did not realize what he was doing. Momoi was a bit quicker and felt shy about being looked at so closely. He was too close to her. "Okay, you're clean."He released her face from his hands and reached out to her. When she thought he was going for her breasts, she flinched for a bit until realizing that he was only pulling her apron up. "Get back to mixing, add a bit more milk or else it'll get bitter, and don't dirty your clothes." Kagami turned towards the stove to check on the boiling curry.

Momoi was completely frozen in place. Did Kagami not notice how flushed she was? She then noticed that her heart was racing faster than normal, and that she held her breath during the time he held her face.

It was very obvious Kagami didn't notice a thing.

"Alright, the curry is ready. Now you put the heat on low and let it simmer so that it won't burn when you prepare the rice." Kagami looked at Momoi and saw her standing in the middle of the kitchen. "Oi, are you paying attention? I'm trying to teach you to cook, here." He called out to her, unaware of the fact that she was too preoccupied with her thoughts.

"O-oh! Right!" She shook her head and walked over to him to follow his intructions. "Can you taste it and tell me if it's alright and if I did everything right?" She said as she took off the lid and fanned the steam away from her. The pink haired girl reached out for a spoon and scooped some up. "Here." She held up the spoon for him to take, but was surprised when he chomped down on it, making it seem like he was being fed. She blushed lightly.

"Hm. Much better than the first batch. You're doing a lot better." He complimented while wiping at the side of his mouth with his thumb. He turned heel and walked to the other counter to distribute the pudding batter into two molds. Momoi, trynig to forget the warmth on her cheeks stirred at the curry erratically.

She recognized this feeling from when she was in love with Kuroko. She really hoped it wasn't true.

'_I wonder what's wrong with her. I hope the heat in the kitchen isn't making her sick._'

* * *

_A/N: Oh, Kagami. You adorable idiot, you! _

_In case this may seem like it's going too quickly in their relationship, it's just for Momoi. Don't be shocked. She fell for Kuroko over ice cream, so she'd be a little more familiar with what the hell 'love' is before Kagami even understands that there is life outside of basketball and food. He really is a simple idiot who doesn't realize what his actions implicate. _


End file.
